DOE gives over $600 million to states affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton

The US Department of Energy is giving more than $600 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to boost grid resiliency across southeastern states affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The funding, which is part of the DOE’s Grid Resilience and Innovative Partnerships program, is expected to bolster grid reliability “in the face of extreme weather and increased electricity demand,” according to the DOE. The funding will help harden the electric grid across the Southeastern US, install advanced conductors and controls to help local power companies better face increasing extreme weather, deploy self-healing devices and enable more efficient and precise dispatching of field teams during outages, upgrade lines to meet critical capacity and flexibility for projected load growth and renewable integration, and build, rebuild or reconductor transmission infrastructure.

“Electric cooperatives are leaders in finding innovative ways to reliably power their communities,” National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson said in an Oct. 15 statement. “This federal funding is an important tool as they work to meet tomorrow’s energy needs. As electricity demand in the US continues to increase, upgrading and building new transmission will be critical. Electric co-ops are working together to reliably meet these increased energy needs.”

Projects receiving funding include:

• Tennessee Valley Authority: up to $250 million in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia
• Georgia Power Company: up to $160 million in Georgia
• Georgia Transmission Corporation: up to $97 million in Georgia, Arkansas, Arizona, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin
• Gainesville Regional Utilities: up to $47 million in Florida
• Switched Source: up to $47 million in Florida and Illinois
• Randolph Electric Membership Corporation: up to $11.4 million in North Carolina

“This investment will help reduce the likelihood of outages, speed up restoration times and increase grid operational resilience for millions of customers in communities most susceptible to prolonged outages in one of the highest storm-risk regions of the country,” the DOE said in an Oct. 13 statement.

Strengthening reliability

Randolph Electric Membership Corporation will install advanced predictive maintenance devices and software to identify equipment issues before failure to reduce power outages further, spokesperson Michael Trent said Oct. 15. In addition, Randolph EMC will install additional fault-locating devices to detect and locate faults in the power grid to facilitate a quicker repair.

“This funding will support grid modernization improvements to strengthen the reliability and resilience of our system,” Trent said. “These advanced grid hardening measures will lessen the impact and extent of outages from future severe weather events. The funds will expand our self-healing grid systems by creating additional circuit ties and adding reclosing units across the Randolph EMC system.”

Gainesville Regional Utilities began aggressively pursuing grants following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an oct. 14 statement. The utility was awarded the GRIP grant during the second round of funding. In addition to the $47.5 million federal award, GRU has allocated $23.7 million in its electric distribution system budget.

“It’s important to point out that one of the main reasons we received this grant is because GRU is an industry leader in grid reliability,” Gainesville Regional Utilities CEO Ed Bielarski said in an Oct. 14 statement. “Because we already are innovative and reliable, DOE wants to use us as a model to further innovate and enhance our resilience and storm response, including in disadvantaged communities.”

Gainesville Regional Utilities enhancements include:

• Replacing 10 transformers
• Replacing outdated circuit breakers with new technology
• Replacing 129 wooden poles with ductile iron poles
• Enhancing GRU’s digital meters to more easily detect and respond to outages
• Hardening and undergrounding distribution lines serving disadvantaged communities
• Building a new substation in southwest Gainesville

NRECA, Georgia Transmission Corporation and a consortium of 11 rural electric utilities from across the country were selected to negotiate contracts for over $97 million in federal infrastructure funding, according to the NRECA. NRECA’s consortium will accelerate completion of high-priority transmission projects at 12 rural electric utilities across the country.

“Recent estimates find 200,000 miles of existing transmission lines will require replacement over the next decade,” the NRECA said. “Consortium members will execute 13 transmission newbuild/upgrade subprojects to cost effectively increase their transmission system resilience and transfer capacity for renewable generation interconnection.”